Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

UPS

By Gia Davila

Thermometer reads 114 degrees.

Tampa, FL – On Thursday, August 15, Tampa Teamsters spoke to the media and handed out flyers exposing UPS’s ongoing failure to provide heat safety. The workers handed out thermometers to other workers and asked them to fill out heat safety surveys as a way of raising awareness of the intense heat that workers are facing every day during the Florida summer. 

Read more...

By Katherine Draken

UPS Teamsters confronting the preload manager about the heat safety demand.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Commerce City, CO – On Friday, August 2, a group of Teamsters at the UPS facility in Commerce City, part of the Denver metro area, confronted management to demand immediate action to address the excessive heat inside the building.

Read more...

By Eliza Schultz

Illinois Amazon drivers strike against union busting.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Skokie, IL – Amazon workers are striking the Skokie delivery center known as DIL7, because of the company’s union-busting tactics which violate federal laws. The drivers have faced Amazon’s unfair labor practices, a response to the workers’ efforts to organize with Teamsters Local 705.

Read more...

By Bill Aiman

Southeast Metro Atlanta Routing Terminal \[SMART\] is an automated sorting facility and the second largest ground hub in the UPS network  | Fight Back! News/staff

Atlanta, GA – United Parcel Service (UPS) announced on March 26 that the company plans to close up to 200 UPS hubs and automate sorting at the remaining hubs within the next five years. The plan is part of a broader initiative by UPS called “Network of the Future” which looks to automate union jobs with a goal of saving the company $3 billion in labor costs by 2028. UPS made $6.7 billion in profit last year and UPS CEO Carol Tomé took home $23.4 million in total compensation.

Read more...

By Diana Terreros

Los Angeles, CA – Chants of “Who are we? Teamsters!” and “Union power!” filled the street on July 19 at the UPS Olympic hub during a strike solidarity rally.

Read more...

By Jon Abraham

Zach Callahan (left) of Teamster Local 639 at UPS picket, Landover, Maryland.

Landover, MD – On July 7 approximately 100 Teamsters of the Local 639 organized a practice picket outside their workplace in preparation for a potential strike.

Read more...

By Haden Kersting

Teamsters practice picket at a UPS hub in Chicago drew over 300 people.

Chicago, IL – On July 14, 300 workers turned out for the latest practice picket and rally at the UPS Jefferson Street Hub on the Near West Side of Chicago. International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 705 and Local 710 organized this event, which was the largest of many practice pickets in the Chicago area that occurred throughout the week. Flyers promoting the event read, “Chicago Teamsters stand up to UPS greed!”

Read more...

By staff

Practice picket at UPS Hub in Jacksonville, Florida.

Jacksonville, FL – 40 members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) rallied near the Jacksonville United Parcel Service Hub on the morning of July 12. Officials from IBT Local 512 called for members to hold a “practice picket” like others held around the country. These practice pickets are part of the overall Teamster campaign to win a good national contract at UPS. Teamsters around the country are prepared to go on strike come August 1 if their demands for higher wages and better working conditions in the new contract are not met by the company.

Read more...

By Haden Kersting

UPS Teamsters picket line in South Side of Chicago, Illinois.

Chicago IL – 70 workers and community members marched outside of UPS’s Morgan Street Hub on the South Side of Chicago, July 11. This was one of many practice pickets that the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 705, is organizing at UPS centers across the Chicago area. This comes as negotiations between the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the United Parcel Service (UPS) remain at a standstill, primarily over pay for part-time workers.

Read more...

By Adelana Akindes

Workers and supporters picket outside the Elm Grove hub.

Milwaukee, WI – On July 6, Local 344 Teamsters held practice pickets at the Elm Grove UPS location to gear up for the potential nationwide strike in August.

Read more...